


Exemplar of Victory

by skysinger



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Mass Effect
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, F/F, Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-25
Updated: 2015-02-25
Packaged: 2018-03-15 06:16:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3436583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skysinger/pseuds/skysinger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two years have made Korra harsher, all angles and ugly scars and nightmares, but they've sculpted Asami into something more, somehow.</p><p>Mass Effect AU. Follows the events of the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Exemplar of Victory

**Author's Note:**

> Title borrowed from Javik: "You are now the Avatar of this cycle. The exemplar of victory."

"Excuse me, ma'am, do you have an appointment?"

"Don't need one."

"Yes, actually, you do - wait! Where are you going? Stop!"

Korra shoulders past the whining assistant and hits the panel, throwing open the door.

"What did I tell you about -" Green eyes meet Korra's, and Asami freezes, trailing off in surprise, "- unnecessary interruptions..."

Spirits, she's still so beautiful. Two years have made Korra harsher, all angles and ugly scars and nightmares, but they've sculpted Asami into something more, somehow. It takes her breath away. She shifts her weight nervously, and it's all she can do to offer a crooked smile. "Hey."

In a blink Asami's on her feet and in front of her, wrapping her in a tight embrace. "Oh, Korra, it's so good to see you again," she breathes. Her voice shakes just a bit over her name. Korra's hands shake, too, splayed against Asami's back, holding as tightly as she can because she's here and they're together, finally, after all this time, and maybe things aren't so bad anymore.

* * *

It's not a surprise at all that Asami makes quick work of the intel Korra got her from the Red Lotus. When Korra's terminal pings with a message asking for her help to take out the Shadow Broker she's on it in minutes, gearing up on her way to the airlock. Whatever's next on the Red Lotus' agenda can wait.

Asami’s apartment is just what she’d expected. It’s got an open layout with big windows - she pointedly ignores the one with webbed cracks from stray gunfire - but almost the whole second floor is a workroom. She brushes her fingers over the edge of a worn desk, studying the tangle of metal and wires resting in the center, surrounded by tools and plans scribbled on paper rather than more conventional datapads. Korra has no idea what the object could possibly be, but it's just so Asami that it almost hurts. She turns away, but freezes when something in the corner of the room catches her eye.

It’s a piece of armor, a black chestplate, melted through at the sides but with an N7 logo just visible on the left chest. Korra knows even before she looks for the familiar dent just above the N that the armor’s hers, from before. She has to take a step back, suddenly light-headed. She can’t take a deep enough breath, the vacuum of space is working against her, she's going to die because there’s just not enough damn air -

“Commander, we’ve got something down here.”

The sharp words help her focus, bring her out of her head, but they don’t quite calm her racing heart.

* * *

"Truck."

"I know."

"Truck!"

"I know!" Asami swerves out of the way, just barely, struggling to keep the rogue Spectre's skycar in view. "Spirits, if I wanted a backseat driver I would've asked Bolin come along."

Korra's knuckles are white from her tight grip on the armrests. "Or you could've just let me drive."

Asami laughs, genuine amusement lighting up her whole face even as she almost flips the car trying to dodge oncoming traffic. It's a terrifying combination. "Yeah, but where's the fun in that?"

* * *

"Don't you dare judge me," the broken Spectre rasps through bloodstained lips. "You and I are just the same."

Korra punches her in the jaw with a gauntleted fist, sending a fresh spray of blood across the ground. "I am nothing like you."

She doesn't have the energy to retaliate, just spits to clear her mouth and lays limply against the barricade. "I sold out to the Broker to help my people, just like you did with the Red Lotus."

"I didn't have a choice -"

"We all have a choice, Commander. You and I, we get our hands dirty so the Council doesn't have to." A harsh cough brings up more blood than air. "At least my intel saved lives. What have you -"

A shot rings through the air. The Spectre slumps over, dead.

Asami holsters her pistol and tugs Korra by the arm. She looks torn, a little frazzled, and she hesitates before schooling her features and nodding back to the landing pad. "Come on. I have the data. We have work to do."

* * *

A mech hoists itself onto the ship's hull, but before it can even raise its pistol Korra blasts it with her shotgun, sending it tumbling into the wind. Another bolt of lightning hits the rod behind her, sending a shiver of charged energy down her spine. She laughs.

"You can't tell me you haven’t missed this, Sato."

Asami swings out her 'tool, overloading one mech and pushing it back into a second, momentum carrying both of them down to the level below. Her voice crackles over the comm link, noisy from the electric storm.  "What, taking on an enemy force ten times the size of ours?”

“There’s a ship full of security mechs against two of us. I’m no mathematician, but I’m pretty sure that’s more than ten to one.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“Hell yeah!” Another two mechs pop into view - Korra wraps them in a singularity and Asami shoots them down. “It’s the first fair fight I’ve seen in ages.”

Asami laughs, and even with the interference it’s a beautiful sound. “I see spending two years dead did nothing to deflate your ego.”

“Probably just made it worse. Even being dead can't stop me for long.”

They still haven’t actually talked about it. The accident, Korra's...disappearance, her new mission with the Red Lotus. Asami knows, of course - she's as good an information broker as she is an engineer, probably - but she hasn't brought it up, so Korra won't either. Easier to dance around the topic with offhand references and jokes.

There’s no more approaching mechs, at least none that register on her HUD. Asami leaves her cover and ducks to Korra’s side, eyes locking with hers through their visors. “How are you, really?”

Of course, it's too much to ask that Asami would just let it go forever. She's too kind, too worried.

It occurs to Korra that maybe it says a lot about their relationship that they opt to have this discussion here, now, in the middle of a raid on the Shadow Broker’s lair.

She shifts her weight a bit, leaning forward onto a knee. “I’m doing the best I can.” Simple words, but they're honest and raw, and it hurts more than it should to say even that much out loud.

Asami nods slowly, eyes never leaving hers. “I won’t pretend to understand, with everything you’ve been through...but I'm here if you need to talk, or anything.”

“I know you are.” She does know, of course she does, but it’s still so good to hear.

* * *

Korra hears Asami's voice even over the high-pitched ringing in her ears, even though it's her voice but not at the same time. Only she's having trouble processing it and maybe it's all just a hallucination, because she's pretty sure Asami's pretending to be the Shadow Broker, and...well, that's just crazy.

She grunts as she rolls over onto all fours, pushing herself onto her knees and slowly standing. The Broker's body - what's left of it, anyway - is slumped over next to her, hulking form reduced to torn, scarred flesh, burnt and ripped apart by his own kinetic shields. She looks away.

Asami's standing over the Broker's workstation, speaking into a scrambler. “I want status updates on all ops within the next solar day. Shadow Broker out.”

Okay...maybe not a hallucination, then, but still crazy. She says as much out loud.

Asami turns, looking at her with wide green eyes. Her voice is a little breathless, but she sounds so sure. “Korra, I can do this. This network…” she glances back at the screen. “I can do so much good with this.”

Her mind's still sort of fuzzy and her ears are still buzzing but she sees the look in Asami's eyes. It's desperation, it's desire, it's that chip on her shoulder left over from Hiroshi's betrayal. Asami's taking over the Broker's network, and it's crazy, but Korra knows it's true - she can do it, just like she can do anything else she puts her mind to.

She looks over the screens in front of her, taking in the data feeds and videos and voices and the sheer volume of information. “Good thing you can, ‘cause just looking at all this stuff gives me a headache.”

A nervous laugh bursts from Asami's chest, thick with emotion and relived tension. Korra can’t help but smile too, because even though this is a totally ridiculous situation and she should probably be a lot less carefree about it, there’s still adrenaline running through her veins and it’s leaving her a pretty heavy high. She puts an arm around Asami’s shoulder. “We make a pretty great team, don’t we?”

Asami nods. "Yeah, we sure do." She pulls her eyes from the screens and looks at Korra with an intensity that sets her stomach fluttering.

And even though each day brings Korra closer to the Omega-4 Relay, even though she's working with an organization she hates, even though by all rights she should be dead and some days can't be bothered to pretend otherwise, even though the Shadow Broker has a target the size of Arcturus Station on their back and Asami could have just signed her own death wish...

They kiss, and it's simple and easy and soft, and Korra's never felt so alive.

**Author's Note:**

> Ever have an idea. and you just can't stop thinking about it, like literally obsess over it and lose sleep and get really deeply emotionally invested? That's me with this AU. I have so many headcanons about this crossover that it's not even funny.


End file.
